1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a recording apparatus, a recording system, and a maintenance method for a recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
For the maintenance of printing quality of an ink jet printer, JP-A-6-316062 and JP-A-11-129487, for example, propose techniques for periodically performing head cleaning. The ink jet printer described in JP-A-6-316062 performs head cleaning when a predetermined number of characters are printed. When a predetermined number of cleaning operations are performed, the cleaning operations are performed with increased frequency and a message to encourage a user to replace the head is displayed. The ink jet printer described in JP-A-11-129487 determines the necessity of head cleaning from the elapsed time and the number of printed sheets since the previous cleaning operation. The ink jet printer which performs head cleaning suitably, refers to printing history, sets the next head cleaning timing in a period in which the user is unlikely to use the printer and performs the head cleaning in a period when the user does not use the printer.